The Life I Could Have Had
by Ealdor
Summary: Dean wakes up from a coma in a world where none of what he knew has ever existed, except the monsters. There's no Sam, no Castiel, no Crowley or anyone else that he could recognise. Worse still, he has a wife and two young children to care for. What will he do when he knows nothing about any of these people yet somehow still feels responsible?


_A/N: So this is a new idea I had for a fanfiction. Basically, Dean has woken up in a regular life. He has a wife and two children yet nobody he knows is anywhere to be found. He tries to look as normal as he can but is it really possible when he's beginning to question what is real?_

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Chapter 1

The last thing Dean remembered was laying down in bed in one of the crappy hotel rooms that he and Sam had rented out. He'd been tired after the hunt that had gone on that day, some dammed skinwalker killings. They'd gotten the son of a bitch but it really had taken its toll on the two men.

Dean had been looking forward to the mildly comfortable, if slightly lumpy, bed that he would be sleeping in that night. Because of this, he fell asleep almost instantly.

Now where was he? A hospital room? The white walls and beeping monitors were what had given it away. Plus, the lumpiness of the motel room bed had vanished- instead replaced by the stone-hard firmness of a hospital cot.

Had he been in some sort of accident during the night? Where was Sam? Surely Cas could just heal him and they could get out of here quickly but where was the angel?

Then he heard a movement from a chair near him and glanced over to see a woman sleeping there; long, brown curls hanging in her face and her head resting against the wall. Tear stains coated her cheeks, as though she had cried herself to sleep that night.

As if sensing he had woken up, the woman stirred- emerald eyes opening slowly. It took her a moment to come to her senses before she looked over at him.

"Dean, you're awake!" she exclaimed enthusiastically as she leaned over the bed to wrap her arms around him. She was British; that was never a good sign. Most villains in movies were British.

Dean felt uncomfortable under the sudden contact; almost sure he had never seen this woman before. "Hey, look; sweetheart. I don't know who you are or what I'm doing here but I'd really like to know where my brother is."

The woman pulled back, her eyes filled with nothing but utter bewilderment. Then she placed a hand on his forehead to feel if he was feverish. A swift kiss was placed on his forehead as she stood. "I'll be back in a moment, alright?" With that, she left the room.

With her gone, Dean had a chance to evaluate his situation. Clothes were laid over the bedside table and he assumed they were probably for him. Climbing out of bed, he pulled on the thin black t-shirt and jeans. They fit perfectly and it was as though he'd worn them before, a grease stain on one of the legs of the jeans where someone had wiped their hands after eating some greasy food. It sure seemed like it was him.

It was then that the woman returned, a doctor following him. "Mr Winchester, you really shouldn't be out of bed. You've had quite an experience."

"I need to see my brother," Dean replied. "Now, where is he?"

"You don't have a brother," the woman answered. "You must be confused. Please, hon, just sit down. We need to let the doctor have a proper look at you."

"Look, lady, I'm going to go find Sam so we can figure out what the heck is going on around here."

He shoved past both her and the doctor, heading for the door.

"It must be memory loss," the doctor murmured to the woman. "I'm sure he'll manage to regain his memories in time."

Dean turned to look at them. "I don't have memory loss," he snapped. "Now where is Sam?"

The woman tilted her head a little. "Sammy's at home," she replied as though it were obvious. "I wasn't exactly going to bring him here, was I? Not with you comatose."

The Winchester nodded. "Take me to him," he replied.

The lady looked at the doctor who gave a bob of his head. "Drive carefully," he warned, as if it were some sort of inside joke.

"We will," the woman replied. "Though I'm sure Dean is devastated about his car being wrecked."

"My car?" Dean demanded angrily. "What happened to my car?"

The woman's mouth turned up in a grin. "You destroyed it in the crash. But, don't worry; I've paid for it to be repaired."

Dean sighed but nodded. "Let's go see Sam," he answered as he headed out into the hallway.

Fifteen minutes later, they were sat in her Datsun 310. At least she had a bit of a taste in cars. Normal girls liked driving the new-fangled electric eco-cars. Dean was glad she wasn't like them. The proper purr of an engine was soothing and silent cars freaked him out a bit.

He'd have much preferred the engine of the impala but he'd have to just live with it for now. He was getting closer to Sam and, once he was there, they could figure this whole thing out.

"So… what's your name?" he asked the woman who looked a little taken aback at the question.

"Theresa," she replied. "Well, you usually call me Terri."

"Usually?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't even know you, Theresa. How would I usually call you that?"

"You really don't remember, do you? How far back does your memory loss go?"

Terri held up her left hand, knuckles facing him. Dean didn't understand what he was supposed to be looking at until she pointed it out. "We're married, Dean," she told him. "We've been married for eight, almost nine years."

Now Dean saw the diamond ring perched on her petite little finger. It was gold with a single diamond about the size of the littlest fingernail on his hand. "Yeah. Haha. Nice joke. I don't exactly settle down with anyone, sweetheart. Sorry that you got your hopes up." That's when Dean looked down and saw his own gold wedding band.

"Hopefully you remember Sam and Bobby," Terri murmured.

Dean felt his brow raise as he looked at her incredulously. "Of course I remember my brother and Bobby!"

"Brother?" Terri sounded completely confused. "Sam and Bobby are our sons, Dean."

"Sons? Bobby is, like, twice my age. I doubt he's my son."

"Bobby is five, Dean. That's more like a sixth of your age. And Sam is three."

Now Dean went silent, completely and utterly confused. Because of this, he went completely silent- unsure of what to do or say. This was all so strange. Was he dreaming?

[-]

When they arrived at the tall townhouse, both of them climbed out of the car and Terri locked the doors before heading up towards it. Dean stopped to stare, taking in the house. It looked so much like his childhood home- before the fire, of course. It even seemed to have the same front yard, save for the rechargeable electric children's car parked by the door.

Terri opened the door and peeked her head inside. "Guess who's home!" she called loudly into the interior. Even from his distance, Dean could hear the sound of two little pairs of feet racing towards the door.

First out was a young boy with dark, curly hair like that of his mother. His eyes resembled the greenish colour that Dean's held which made this situation even more incredible. He was smiling and Dean could see he was missing one of his baby teeth at the front. Next was a shorter boy with longish, blonde hair like that of Dean's mother. It fell in his eyes as he ran but he quickly brushed it out of his eyes.

"Daddy!" cried the older of the two, racing forwards to wrap his arms around Dean's legs. Automatically, Dean felt himself reach out to ruffle the small boy's hair.

"Hey, kiddo," he heard himself reply.

The younger one stood in the doorway, watching them for a moment before his face broke out into a large grin and he, too, ran forward to greet Dean. For now, Dean would play along with this whole charade- at least until he figured out what was going on. Picking up both boys, one in each arm, he looked between them.

"Did you miss me?" he asked, faking a smile.

"Mummy said dat you might not be coming back for a while," the youngest one explained. Sam, Dean assumed. Then he lifted his hand to his mouth to suck on his palm. "She's not as good at reading stories as you are, da."

"Hey, I do my best!" Terri protested and Dean looked over to see a oldish woman leaving their house. "Thanks, Bev. I'm glad you could help."

"Glad to be of help. Your boys were little angels," the woman replied then looked at Dean. "Glad to see you're okay after your accident." She smiled before hobbling along to the house next door. So they had neighbours, too, huh?

"Come on then, boys," Terri said, indicating the inside of the house. "Let's get inside and eat dinner."


End file.
